Friday, January 2, 2015

An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States

By Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

A review

In
most histories books of this country, the ancestors of the first people who
lived here are usually portrayed as being on the sidelines.In her book, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, Roxanne
Dunbar-Ortiz quoted author Francis Jennings who described how historians
routinely portray the indigenous people from this part of the world:

“In
the first place they (US historians) exclude Amerindians (as also
Afro-Americans) from participation, except as foils for Europeans, and thus
assume that American civilization was formed by Europeans in a struggle against
savagery or barbarism of the nonwhite races.”

I’ve
read several good books on the history of the indigenous people who lived in
this part of the world.These books
would include biographies, histories of the wars against Native Americans,
books that included illustrations of the Indian lifestyle, and books on the
contributions of Native Americans in the world.

While
many of these books are worth reading, I can’t think of one book that gave a
comprehensive picture of this history.With Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’ book, I no longer have that problem.

Why do we study history?

Before
we think about the contents of this book, we might ask the question: Why do we
study history at all?Certainly studying
history rarely leads to gainful employment.Many historians write about history as if it were an adventure story
that has little or no relevance to the present.So, why not just forget about the past and live in the present?

The
great writer James Baldwin gave the following answer to that question in his
book The Price of the Ticket:

“History,
as nearly no one seems to know, is not merely something to be read.And it does not refer merely, or even
principally, to the past.On the
contrary, the great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it
within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is
literally present in all we do.It could scarcely be otherwise, since it is
to history that we owe our frames of reference, our identities, and our
aspirations.And it is with great pain
and terror that one begins to realize this.In great pain and terror one begins to assess the history which has
placed one where one is and formed one’s point of view.In great pain and terror because, therefore,
one enters into battle with that historical creation, oneself, and attempts to
create oneself according to a principle more humane and more liberating; one
begins the attempt to achieve a level of personal maturity and freedom which
robs history of its tyrannical power, and also changes history.”

President Obama ignores the reality of history

So,
in reviewing this book on The Indigenous
Peoples’ History of the United States, I will start with the inauguration
speech of President Barack Obama in 2009.Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz also quoted this speech to give us a frame of
reference for looking at her subject.Here Obama talks about our ancestors in this country.

“Time
and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their
hands were raw so that we might live a better life.They saw America as bigger than the sum of
our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth
or fraction.”

What
did our ancestors work for in reality?Obama chooses not to talk about the fact that in this country 80% of the
population owns no more than 6% of all financial wealth.

Another
issue Obama fails to talk about is the over 100 years of genocidal warfare
against the descendants of the first people who lived in this part of the
world.This war started with the
following words in the Declaration of
Independence.Here the founders of
this country explained one of the grievances they had against the British
Crown:

“He
has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on
the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known
rule of warfare, is an indistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and
conditions.”

Clearly
indigenous people carried out wars against each other before European
contact.This was the case with the
ancestors of all people throughout the world.The difference is that Europeans had a goal of total displacement and or
genocide with respect to the first inhabitants of this part of the world.

The Indigenous people’s history of the United States

Dunbar-Ortiz
gives us a brief outline of what indigenous nations looked like before European
contact. These were extremely complex
societies.Emory Dean Keoke and Marie
Porterfield also gave a summary of the complexity of indigenous cultures in
their book, American Indian Contributions
to the World – 1500 years of inventions and innovations.

One
of the most striking contributions in this book was the way in which indigenous
people raised their children.Keoke and
Porterfield pointed to the work of the psychologist Erik Erikson who used the
Native American lifestyle as a model for raising children.Erikson argued that children need to be a
part of an environment where they learn trust as well as autonomy.If this doesn’t happen children will develop
feelings of mistrust, shame, and doubt.In old age, adults will either have a sense of integrity, or they will
develop feelings of despair.

Dunbar-Ortiz
gives us a summary of the history of this country that documents the U.S.
government’s policies towards the first nations.This history points to a consistent policy
of attempting to eliminate any trace that Native Americans ever lived here.

We
can start this history with the revolution that gave birth to this
country.The indigenous people knew that
the British were not their friends.However, many indigenous nations understood that the American revolutionaries
would be even more aggressive in robbing them of the land they had lived on for
thousands of years.For this reason most
indigenous nations supported the British during the revolution.

Many
Black people also sided with the British because they felt they had a better
chance of eliminating slavery under British rule.Clearly many Native Americans proved to be
correct in anticipating a genocidal war promoted by the new revolutionary
government.

In
New York the revolutionary forces not only defeated the Seneca people, they
destroyed their foodstuffs eliminating their very means to live.This was the beginning of over 100 years of
genocidal warfare against the first nations of this country.

Dunbar-Ortiz
spent some time writing about President Andrew Jackson who many historians
continue to consider a hero.Jackson
signed into law the 1830 Indian Removal
Act.This law ordered the indigenous
nations to abandon their homelands and move to what is now Oklahoma.Thousands of Native people lost their lives
in forced marches where they moved to the west.In the Indian Removal Act the government argued that indigenous people
would have a right to that land “forever.”This didn’t turn out to be the case.

After
the Civil War the U.S. government continued its active war against the
indigenous nations.There was a
consistent policy of murdering millions of buffalo in a clear effort to
eliminate any chance that many indigenous people had of surviving in their homeland.

After
the active shooting wars ended, the government sent indigenous children to
schools where they were deliberately taught to forget their culture.Recently, archeologists have won government
support in preventing indigenous people from having access to the remains of
their ancestors.

In all, there were about 371 treaties the United States government violated with the indigenous people of this part of the world. Understanding this fact, allows anyone to question the entire legal system of this country. If the government has routinely violated numerous treaties, why would we expect that they will enforce their own laws?

Dunbar-Ortiz
argues that the wars against Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan have a clear
connection to the wars against the indigenous people of this part of the
world.Today, the U.S. government is
holding prisoners at their infamous base in Guantanamo, Cuba.These prisoners were captured in war, but
have been denied the status of Prisoners
of War.Instead, they are labeled enemy combatants.Dunbar-Ortiz shows how the
rationalization for these detentions came from the wars against the indigenous
people of this part of the world.

Follow the money

In
looking at this history we might also consider Edward E. Baptist’s book, The Half Has Never Been Told.In this book Baptist argues that the
production of cotton by slave labor was the primary economic force that led to
the industrialization of the United States and the world.Baptist also argues that the method that was
indispensable to this industry was the consistent and routine torture of
slaves.

Dunbar-Ortiz
gives us the facts that the theft of Indian land was the primary source of
wealth in the early years of this country.This is how she explains it:

“Neither
superior technology nor an overwhelming number of settlers made up the
mainspring of the birth of the United States or the spread of its power over
the entire world.Rather, the chief
cause was the colonialist settler-state’s willingness to eliminate whole
civilizations of people in order to possess their land.”

Why is the Forth of July a national holiday?

So,
looking at this history of genocide and torture we might ask the question: Why
is the signing of the Declaration of
Independence a national holiday on July 4, every year?

Clearly
the facts Dunbar-Ortiz presents in her book are thoroughly documented.On the other hand, I look at this history a
bit differently.Clear advances were
made because of the revolution of the thirteen colonies.These advances would include, freedom of
expression as well as citizenship rights.Advances in the labor movement and the civil rights movement would have
been more difficult were it not for the American Revolution.

Likewise,
the abolition of slavery in this country was also an important advance that was
celebrated by about four million former slaves.We can also say that all workers and farmers benefitted from the
abolition of slavery.Yet, while
President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation
Proclamation, he also signed the order to execute 38 of the Dakota people
in Minnesota.Lincoln also signed
executive orders that violated treaties with indigenous nations.

What
does all this mean?My point is that the
advances made because of the American Revolution and the Civil war occurred
while these same forces carried out policies of genocide against the indigenous
people from this part of the world.However, a recognition of these advances doesn’t mean that we should go
ahead and continue to celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

If
we recognize the advances made in this country, we should also recognize the
genocide against Indians, the routine torture of slaves, the horrendous
conditions working people faced, child labor, as well as Jim Crow
segregation.In my opinion, there is no
rational reason to celebrate any of these aspects of the history of this
country.

The
American Revolution as well as the Civil War also established the capitalist
system in this country.Dunbar-Ortiz’
book documents some of the horrors that came along with this development.However, the working class was also born as a
result of this development.

As
we wrestle with all the problems we face today, there is a clear road
forward.Working people and farmers have
a clear interest in advancing a new kind of government that makes the human
needs of all people its top priority.Native Americans will and have played an invaluable role in advancing
this movement.

The
Cuban government has shown that it is possible to give everyone a lifetime
right to health care and education using only a fraction of the resources of
this country.As the world capitalist
economy continues to fall apart, more and more workers will see this road as
our only way forward.Clearly, a
government that continues to make heroes out of those who had a routine policy
of genocide against indigenous people is not capable of solving the immense
problems we face.

Leonard Peltier

My
one disappointment in Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’ book is that she did not mention
Leonard Peltier.Clearly, her book had
much ground to cover and a look at his case would have taken up a bit of space.Peltier has been serving about 37 years in
prison because the U.S. government worked diligently to frame him up.

I
will end this review with a section of the speech Peltier gave at his
trial.In my opinion this is one of the
most important speeches in the history of this country:

“I
stand before you as a proud man; I feel no guilt!I have done nothing to feel guilty
about!I have no regrets about being a
Native American activist­–thousands of people in the United States, Canada, and
around the world have and will continue to support me to expose the injustices
which have occurred in this courtroom.I
do feel pity for your people that they must live under such and ugly system.Under your system, you are taught greed,
racism, and corruption–and most serious of all, the destruction of Mother
Earth.Under the Native American system,
we are taught all people are Brothers and Sisters to share wealth with the poor
and needy.But the most important of all
is to respect and preserve the Earth, who we consider to be our mother.We feed from her breast; our Mother gives us
life from birth and when it’s time to leave this world, who again takes us back
into her womb.But the main thing we are
taught is to preserve her for our children and our grandchildren, because they
are the next who will live upon her.”

About Me

I am the author of the novel "Looking Back From 2101." My novel imagines a future world where poverty and discrimination are no longer a part of the human condition. My blog contains articles and poems that I've written over the years. Many of my poems are biographies of historical figures who I have found to be inspiring.